Pondering the Possibilities
- racheljbielby
- 10 minutes ago
- 6 min read
So, the pond has been in place for a month now.
Given the confidence and self-assuredness of the local wildlife populus I'm actually surprised to say that's it's actually taken this long for beasties to move in or at least acclimatise to it. To be fair, it's taken a while for the water to warm up [as we had a smattering of wintery weather upon completion] and spring takes a while to start in earnest in Scotland at the best of times.
To be fair, the sparrows have been exceedingly enthusiastic about the soil spoil heap/bund - as this is excellent for community dust bathing. I watched a male blackbird eyeing up the pond with the intention of using it as a bathing spot...when he realised it was a bit deep; he hopped onto some of the plant pots...tried again and almost fell in [eye roll] before proceeding to make a bee line for the actual bird bath. Weirdly the actual bird bath has never been a huge success [for the birds at any rate], being ceramic the sides are perhaps too smooth. Although I did install a health and safety branch - which one wood pigeon took great interest in, presumably debating its quality as nest building material.
At the end of my post "Going with the flow" I'd started adding some of the pond plants I'd ordered, but these were just sitting in the pots they'd been shipped in and weren't fully settled in yet. When they all arrived...the great potting up commenced.
Unlike the rest of pond creation, I actually did some research into what species I'd like/might grow. In fact, I came up with a grand plan [see below]! I then created a mood board - basically showing photos of the plants I wanted to make sure that they would complement each other and provide seasonal interest. It was super helpful to do this visually and really helped when it came to planting up.
*Note: I use the term 'marginal plants' to refer to plants outside the water but along the margins of the pond and planted directly into the soil [as this makes sense to me]. Most pond plant suppliers use the same term but mean that [seasonally] the plants will have their roots in water and are generally planted in aquatic compost.
The Plants
There were some deviations from the mood board, due to availability of plants and making the fatal mistake to visit a garden centre [and thus get distracted by other interesting plants rather than sticking to the main plan] but hey, that's life. My overall aim was to make it as wildlife-friendly/native as possible, but I did make some exceptions! I used proper pond planters, which I firstly lined with half a hemp sack and covered the bottom with gravel and small stones to help weigh it down. The plants were then planted in aquatic compost, and where possible, covered in another layer of gravel [to stop the soil floating away] although I vastly underestimated how much gravel I'd need for this so it wasn't a massive success.
I laid out all the plants following the general planting plan, to ensure there was space for everything [below].
Floating
Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) - literally just a bag from the supermarket. Has started showing leaves above the water and has some tiny white flowers. Excellent oxygenator.
Lesser Duckweed (Lemna minor) - an unintentional addition. Despite double washing all the plants there's always some duckweed that gets through! Whilst it does look exceptionally cute on a frog's head - it does have a habit of blanketing the surface of the water - so I do try and lift it out whenever I see it.
Oxygenating Hornwort (Ceratophyllum dermersum) - a gift from a friend of a neighbour. Wonderfully feathery leaves. Supposed to be excellent for aquatic wildlife and improving the quality of the water.
Submerged
Water Avens Geum rivale
This is a lovely little plant, with drooping dark-pink/maroon flowers. If it gets too confident in the pond it should be alright in regular soil. However, it may hybridise with its close family member, the wood aven - which can result in some interesting flower variations! The wood aven typically has flattish yellow flowers, but the hybrids can produce either drooping yellow heads or flattish pink heads - so something to look forward to!
Amphibious Bistort Persicaria amphibia
A lovely native pond plant with long leaves [perfect for a newt to roll an egg up in] and a tall pink flower spike.
Watermint Mentha aquatica
Some lovely smelling watermint from a neighbour's pond. Potentially could get quite bushy, with pale pink flower spikes to attract pollinators and I can use the leaves to make mint tea! One month on and this plant is confidently thriving!
Japanese Rush Acorus gramineus 'Ogon'
This was a splurge purchase, but I liked the colour and that it was a more mature plant - so it would provide instant shade and colour [while waiting for the other plants to get bigger]. It's also evergreen so will add a 'pop' of colour in the winter months.
Iris louisiana 'Black Gamecock'
I've always fancied an iris, but I wasn't a fan of the more native 'Yellow Flag' variety. This should have deep purplish-black petals, so should be quite stunning!
Brooklime Veronica beccabunga
This plant has the best name! Another evergreen species, this time with rounded pale green leaves with short spikes of tiny blue flowers which are well loved by pollinators.
Water-forget-me-not Myosotis scorpioides
Seems fitting that I forgot to upload the photograph of this! Water forget-me-not is almost identical to its garden relative, Myosotis sylvatica [which sadly is often evicted from gardens for being a 'weed']. The water variety has thinner leaves and a taller, bushier presence; with tiny blue flowers. I'm hoping this will also do well enough that I can plant some along the pond margins. It's already put up flowers and the bees are loving it.
Dwarf Red Water Lily (Nymphaea) Xiafei
I've always fancied a water lily, but they need full sun so it was never an option for the barrel. I had to gradually submerge this - its right at the bottom of the pond - fingers crossed it'll produce something maybe next year!
Dwarf Papyrus Cyperus papyrus 'Nanus' or Cyperus haspan
Something a bit exotic. I've always quite fancied one after seeing them for sale in the Botanics shop. As a dwarf version it should only grow to about 80cm, and has to be brought inside again over the winter - as it's accustomed to warmer climes.
Surrounding area & sand bags
At the back of the pond, I filled several hemp sandbags with a mixture of wildflower seed, sand and topsoil, which encircle the pond forming a bund. The hope for this is that the wildflower seeds will grow through the bags - flowering at the top and with their roots digging down into the ground - securing the bund in place. Inspiration for this was a similar project at Edinburgh Zoo at the old rock hyrax enclosure. Behind the bund and planted from left to right are: male ferns (Dryopteris filix-mas) scavenged from elsewhere in the garden; woodruff (Galium odoratum) an attractive ground cover plant with tiny white flowers; Hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra) which should grow quite dense- proving cover and shelter for wildlife; an astrantia - species unknown as it was gifted by a neighbour, but should add some vertical colour and finally a sunken tub of quaking grass (Briza media) still in a pot as I don't want it to take over!
I've been pretty unsuccessful in trying to find clover turf [turves?] to cover the pond liner - the only company I found charged an extortionate rate for delivery...so I might just have to buy some regular grass turfs and seed them with a clover mix.
Bonus Newts!
Whilst sorting out a tub of mixed pond plants from the friend of a neighbour, we discovered these wee guys!
These are a pair of lovely male palmate newts! Identified by the extensive webbing on their back feet [these swell up during the breeding season into, what was once described to me as, 'oven gloves']. Their tail is tipped by a long, thin filament [seen in the video] and the under-neck region is pale pink - distinguishing them from the larger smooth/common newts. I gently placed these guys in the smaller baking tray pond, as the main pond was not established enough for them. They hung around for a week or so before heading off [probably in search of females as April/May is peak breeding season].
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